What colleges like to see

I have a couple of suggestions because I think that there are a lot of things that can make you stand out:

- Growing in your extracurriculars (leadership roles) is extremely important to show colleges that you can take on responsibility and grow as a person within a cause. Starting a niche club/extracurricular is also quite impressive.

- Taking advantage of breaks (especially the summer) is important to convey to colleges that you are constantly working towards a goal and you're not wasting your summer goofing off. Summer programs that work towards your interests or spending your summer serving others (community service/community service projects)

- The college essay plays a huge factor into college admissions as well

Hope I could help! :)

hi there! I think your personal essay is something that is important to colleges because it's how you show them who you are beyond your test scores, GPA, and extracurriculars. it's your chance to reveal the personality behind the great academic stats that you have. I would recommend looking over the personal essay prompts in advance and thinking about possible things you could write about with regard to the prompts. I hope this helps, and good luck!

Demonstrating a commitment to social justice causes can benefit you on your college applications, since social justice is an area that colleges care deeply about. Try to participate in extracurriculars that relate to solving racism, climate change, wealth inequality, gender inequality, and other issues along these lines, and make sure to do any activity like this with genuine passion. Ideally, your activity will have a tangible impact on your local, state, or national community as well. Hope this helps!

I think some kind of big project that pertains to the major you plan on applying for would help you stand out. Shows commitment, passion, skill development, and more.

On top of this, maybe trying to develop a specific hobby or niche subject by really focusing your effort on it might help.

First of all, I would suggest trying to improve your GPA and extracurriculars. Since you are only a sophomore you have plenty of time to do this. Secondly, one thing that a lot of people don't know colleges look for is hobbies. Colleges like picking students that are interesting and have other lives outside of school. Somebody else might have some better ideas too. I suggest looking at CollegeVine's recent Instagram post about finding your college application spike. I hope that this helps. Good Luck.

First, ask your high school counselor if your district offers any dual credit or other Pre-College programs that allow you to take and earn College Level courses and credits while still in high school. If the College allows it, you could reduce the number of required courses in your major. It would be a significant benefit in terms of saving you time and money. It also demonstrates your strong interest in attending their college after graduation.

Join clubs and stick to it, college would like to see consistency. You could also try to establish a meaningful club. It would stand out to college if you put time and effort into it, taking a leadership role and if it would last for years.